The Vanderbilt Library is fortunate to have important distinctive collections that draw scholars for consultation and research. Two interesting international scholars recently visited the Bandy Center to use resources related to the study of Charles Baudelaire. Wayne Cristaudo, Professor of Political Science at Charles Darwin University in the Northern Territory of Australia, visited the Bandy Center to research his current interest in Charles Baudelaire and Walter Benjamin, a philosophical, historical, and anthropological study of social thought. His book promises to provide insights into the human condition and a unique reinterpretation of Baudelaire and Benjamin. Wayne is also an aspiring country-music songwriter. While in Nashville, he cut three demos of his songs with Nashville musicians and the local singer-songwriter Kayliann Lowe.
Guan Beibei, Assistant Professor in English at Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT), Shenzhen Graduate School, and one of the top nine key universities in China, teaches English Poetry, Academic English Writing, and Mythology. She obtained her M.Phil. and Ph.D. at The University of Hong Kong English, focusing on English and French literature, with a special interest in French Romanticism. Professor Cristaudo was on her Ph.D. committee and this visit to the Bandy Center coincides with their collaborative book project. Beibei has an inspirational blog that receives over fifty thousand hits per month. In her blog she writes about university life, music, movies, fashion, travel, western culture and literature.